Mountain Hike

[Team GeoNinjas]

Hiked in Palmer Lake, CO this morning in search of the Put the Fire Out cache.

 

So I find the cache (yay) and as I am opening it I hear the branches start cracking to my left. The bear was about 50 feet away watching me as I signed the log. I looked at him, he looked at me. I don't think either of us knew what to do next. I said "Hello Mr. Bear" to break the ice. He just stood there and watched me for about 5 minutes before he decided to go on his way. It was really cool. I have been hiking back there for 10 years and this is the first time I have seen anything bigger than a squirrel.

 

Now I am full of ibuprofen and sweet tea. Glad to be home.

 

Edited August 29, 2011 by Team GeoNinjas

[+Harry Dolphin]

Try hiking in the wilds of New Jersey. We have several thousand bear! (And, yes, I've met several of them.)

[Team GeoNinjas]

Try hiking in the wilds of New Jersey. We have several thousand bear! (And, yes, I've met several of them.)

 

Sounds like fun. I see more bears in my yard than out in the mountains...fun to watch.

[+Fjordi]

It is for sure a great experience to meet a bear, but I am so glad, that the most dangerous animal in our woods ist maybe a tick

 

It would scare the s*** out of me, when I met a bear...

[+Viajero Perdido]

I just spent a week camped in a wilderness area with a decent-sized group. We shared the valley with two or three grizzlies that were living there, but they never came into our camp or hassled us.

 

One day, five of us were walking along a trail, with me in front, and we were making our usual occasional loud noises to shoo away any bears that might be nearby. We turned a corner, and there was a grizzly coming right toward me, maybe 20m away. He took one look at me, turned around, and ran into the forest - all before I could even decide how to react.

 

For the next ten minutes, we amped up our noise-making to the max, singing loudly and off-key like a jolly drunken parade. It was hilarious. We never saw that bear again.

Edited September 2, 2011 by Viajero Perdido

[Team GeoNinjas]

I just spent a week camped in a wilderness area with a decent-sized group. We shared the valley with two or three grizzlies that were living there, but they never came into our camp or hassled us.

 

One day, five of us were walking along a trail, with me in front, and we were making our usual occasional loud noises to shoo away any bears that might be nearby. We turned a corner, and there was a grizzly coming right toward me, maybe 20m away. He took one look at me, turned around, and ran into the forest - all before I could even decide how to react.

 

For the next ten minutes, we amped up our noise-making to the max, singing loudly and off-key like a jolly drunken parade. It was hilarious. We never saw that bear again.

 

That is an awesome adventure. The Griz are no joke...mine are just black bears...more like scared dogs than man-eaters. Glad you made it out with a good story!

[+thesaladsquad]

we went in British Columbia with 2 other families, and as we were driving up to the hike and lookout, we drove around a cow! we were kind of surprised to see one around, but we went on our way. then we saw another cow. then we started thinking that it must be farmland. We soon got to the parking lot after a nice steep drive up a mountain, then proceeded to climb. we got to the top of the first hill, and saw a group of cows, probably 20, with one just staring us down, we soon jumped out of the way because he was mooing at us very menacingly. as soon as we got out of the way, that same cow came barreling beside us (we were on top of a hill ) and it was a huge bull. His ladies soon followed, but we were in a nice stand-off with a big bull. we did the rest of the hike sort of carefully, but got to the lookout, the view was beautiful, and found the cache. It was quite the adventure.

[Team GeoNinjas]

we went in British Columbia with 2 other families, and as we were driving up to the hike and lookout, we drove around a cow! we were kind of surprised to see one around, but we went on our way. then we saw another cow. then we started thinking that it must be farmland. We soon got to the parking lot after a nice steep drive up a mountain, then proceeded to climb. we got to the top of the first hill, and saw a group of cows, probably 20, with one just staring us down, we soon jumped out of the way because he was mooing at us very menacingly. as soon as we got out of the way, that same cow came barreling beside us (we were on top of a hill ) and it was a huge bull. His ladies soon followed, but we were in a nice stand-off with a big bull. we did the rest of the hike sort of carefully, but got to the lookout, the view was beautiful, and found the cache. It was quite the adventure.

That's awesome. I would run if I saw a bull.